The Head of CID frowned. ‘From what Pringle told me, it was just as well you were there. Who’d have thought that a Russian would have been armed in this country?’
‘We should have thought of that, mate,’ Skinner growled quietly. ‘You and I should have, as line commanders. We put two officers’ lives in danger. Firearms Act or not, the world’s changing, Andy; every bugger seems to be going armed these days. We won’t make a policy announcement, but from now on, whenever we go on an operation like this morning, we’re going to have armed men on the team.’
He paused as a waitress stepped up behind him to clear his soup bowl. ‘As I promised Pringle,’ he continued after she had gone, ‘I’ve been on to the Customs people, at the top level. There are cages being rattled in London, and in France even as we speak. It’s fucking ridiculous that two Russian hoodlums got through our security with four million dollars and a firearm.’
He grinned, unexpectedly. ‘That’s one advantage of Jimmy’s office. Even as a DCC you only get a certain level of attention from these characters in London, but when you’re announced as acting Chief Constable Skinner, and you come on the line breathing fire, that’s a different matter altogether.’
‘Excuse me, gentlemen. Two ham salads, was it?’
‘Yes thanks, Maisie,’ said Skinner. The rosy-cheeked bustling woman set large, well-filled plates before them and withdrew with a smile.
‘How did Dan get on at his press conference?’ he continued.
‘Fine,’ Martin replied. ‘I didn’t stay all the way through, but he and Royston were well in control when I left. The hacks lapped up the Russian story all right, especially when Dan threw in the bit about the gun.’
‘He didn’t mention me, did he?’
‘No. He said that Malenko’s bodyguard . . . He’s called Fydor Ostrakov, incidentally . . . had been disarmed by police officers, that one shot had been fired, but that no one had been injured.’
Skinner almost choked on a piece of ham. ‘What? Pringle sat there with stitches in his eyebrow and said that no one had been hurt?’
‘That’s right,’ the Head of CID confirmed, laughing. ‘The woman from Scot FM asked him about it, of course. Big Dan just puts a hand up to his embroidery, touches it and says, “That? Oh that’s nothing at all, my dear.” There’ll be “
‘Good. People need to be reminded that our job can be dangerous as well as difficult. Plus, in the middle of the most concentrated crime wave that we’ve ever experienced, we needed a good arrest. It gives me something to throw at Councillor Bloody Topham this afternoon too.’
‘You don’t like that woman, do you?’
‘Don’t
Martin finished his salad and leaned back from the table. ‘Coffee?’
‘No, I’ll have some with the Lady Chair.’ Skinner glanced up at the clock on the wall. ‘I’d better get across, in fact, she’s due in five minutes.’ He stood up. ‘Listen, can you get hold of Mackie and McGuire? I want a briefing on the judges at close of play today. It doesn’t need to be here. I’ll go wherever is easiest for them, but I want a progress report.’
The Head of CID nodded. ‘I’ll tell Gerry where and when.’
Skinner turned and left the dining room. To his instant annoyance, he found Councillor Marcia Topham pacing the corridor outside. ‘Ah, there you are,’ said the Chair of the Police Board. ‘I’ve been waiting for ten minutes, and no sign of either you or that secretary chap. I thought you’d forgotten about me.’
‘How could I, Councillor?’ he replied with a forced smile. ‘But you are a bit early.’ As he spoke, Gerry Crossley appeared at the end of the corridor, returning from lunch. Skinner showed the woman into the Chief’s office through the side entrance, signalling behind her back for coffee to be brought in.
Inside, he directed her to one of the comfortable armchairs and sat down facing her. ‘I’ll come straight to the point, Mr Skinner,’ she burst out. ‘I’m not happy.’
Instantly the DCC felt his temper beginning to strain at the leash, but he kept his smile in place. ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Councillor,’ he replied. ‘A domestic problem?’
‘No, it is not,’ she snapped. ‘I’m having to put up with a lot of comments from constituents, friends, and just ordinary people in the street, about these terrible robberies. When are we going to see an arrest, Mr Skinner? It’s just not good enough.’
‘I quite agree with you. It’s not good enough that you should be subjected to such harassment. I’d be quite happy if you were to refer every one of these people to my office. I’ll be happy to listen to their worries.’
He paused. ‘But let me ask you? What do you say to these concerned constituents?’
‘I agree with them, of course. Armed men holding up banks and the police apparently doing nothing about it. It’s not right.’
Skinner held up his right hand, bunched into a fist. ‘D’you see that, Councillor?’
She peered at it. ‘It looks swollen to me.’
‘Quite right. I injured it this morning, tackling a very large man holding a silenced pistol. If I hadn’t been there, or even if I’d been a second or two slower, a young officer would be dead right now.’
As he spoke, his tone became harder. ‘I saw you at a funeral yesterday; that of a young police officer. Annie Brown gave her life in the service of the public, lady. Stevie Steele almost did today.
‘In the office which you hold, people like them are entitled to expect unswerving public support from you. In the office which I hold, I bloody well demand it. Unless you’re prepared to relinquish the Chair to someone worthier, I suggest that you try to learn a bit about the realities and the difficulties of police work.
‘For example, not all criminals wear flat caps, have low foreheads, and carry sacks labelled “swag” over their shoulders. Some . . . the successful ones . . . are highly intelligent people who go about their work in a highly professional way. These robberies have been planned better than any I’ve ever encountered, and have been implemented with matching efficiency. It is not easy to catch people like that . . . yet if you look at the record of this force, you’ll find that almost invariably, we do.
‘The Chair of the Police Board should know all that. I suggest that you go away and read up the facts and figures, so that you can do your job properly by supporting my officers, not attacking them.’
He stood up, abruptly, his anger written all over his face. ‘Now, as you will appreciate, with the number of live investigations which we have running, I’m busy, so this meeting is at an end.’
Councillor Topham looked up at him, red-faced. ‘But Sir James always gives me half an hour,’ she protested.
‘In that case,’ said Skinner, ‘maybe you should postpone your next visit until Jimmy gets back from holiday. I think that we both have higher priorities than vacuous chat, don’t you?’
She rose, at last, with ill grace. As the side door closed on her, Gerry Crossley appeared at the other end of the room, carrying a tray. The Acting Chief grinned at him. ‘Sorry, but the lady’s just gone. Have the other cup yourself and brief me on these hearings.’
The secretary nodded and left the room to fetch his papers. When he returned, he sat in the armchair which Councillor Topham had just vacated.
‘Let me see, sir,’ he began, leafing through the folder. ‘In both these cases, the officers concerned have declined formal hearings into the complaints. They’ve opted to come straight to the Chief Constable for disposal.
‘PC Green . . . he’s the first before you . . . has taken the position that since the circumstances which led to the Divisional Commander’s complaint against him were domestic rather than professional, and since no criminal charges have been laid, there’s no case to answer.’
Skinner nodded. ‘I can follow that line of reasoning. Will he be represented this afternoon?’
‘Yes. He’s exercised his right to have his local Police Federation rep. sit in on the meeting.’
‘Who’s that?’
‘Sergeant Ewan Cameron, from Bathgate.’
‘I know who you mean. He was a DC on my Drugs Squad years ago. What’s he like as a Fed. guy?’
Crossley thought for a moment. ‘Conscientious but cautious, I’d say, sir. He does his job properly: by that I mean he stands up for the people he represents, but that he always manages not to upset Sir James.’
